Fusion 360 Defunctioning

For Mac Users.... VMware just offered a free Perpetual (where have we heard that before?) license for VMFusion Player, for home use.

So at least until they go the Fusion 360 route, you can run VM Fusion on your Mac, and join EAA to get Solidworks for $40/year.

You will also need a copy of Windows....

VMware Fusion Player – Personal Use License

This page will allow users to obtain free ‘Personal Use’ license for VMware Fusion Player
my.vmware.com my.vmware.com
 
I'm a long-time Fusion 360 user and have long touted its many, many merits both on H-M.com and elsewhere. Similar to many of you, I was quite dismayed when I heard the news a couple days ago. My knee-jerk reaction was *eff those guys, I'm outta here*.

So I took a few deep breaths, then downloaded and test drove FreeCAD, SolidWorks, and Inventor. I wanted to check out some other fish in the proverbial sea.

I (obviously) won't claim that I became an expert, or anything close, in any of those CAD packages in the past couple days. But I gave'em each a couple hours behind the mouse.

After a few days of contemplation, I've decided to stay with Fusion 360. Let me tell you why:
  1. I'm quite good and quite quick with Fusion 360. Learning a completely new package isn't all that appealing to me right now.
  2. Fusion 360 is, without question, the most intuitive and user friendly of the 3D modeling software packages I've used. It's clean and polished. A pleasure to use.
  3. The folks behind Fusion are constantly updating and improving the software. They seem to me to be the best in the market on many of the features I use. And those areas that need improving? Well they seem to be improving.
  4. I rarely, if ever, use any of the features that they're limiting in the free version:
    1. I've never made a 2D PDF drawing from any of my models. No issues there.
    2. I've never exported a STEP file from Fusion. Import, yes. But I've never exported one. No issues there.
    3. I've never used the simulation feature. No issues there.
    4. I counted up how many files I routinely use. Including a vise, rotary table, and a few projects, I'm at about 8. So I'm approaching the limit of 10, but I'm not there. This may be the most inconvenient of their changes, but not all that big a deal, quite frankly. I look forward to seeing more detail about how they plan on implementing the 'archive' (and 'un-archive') feature.
    5. I don't use the CAM features all that much in Fusion, and when I do, it's only 2-axis stuff. So no 3+2, 4, or 5 axis stuff. Not even close. So no issues there.
    6. There seem to be a few other limitations as well, but none of them affect anything I do in Fusion.
  5. Reading between the lines in their communications, it seems like they were having quite a bit of trouble with folks using the free, personal version for business projects. I get it, those guys/gals should be paying. And seems many of the features they're locking down will greatly help crack down on that (particularly the 10 file limit, the 1 document limit, and the STEP export).
  6. These guys have families that have to eat, too. I'm not feedin' them, so I don't really have room to complain that they're walking back a few features that I rarely/never use.
  7. They claim that there will always be a free version for home users. I'm as skeptical as you. If they keep rolling back more and more features in the coming years I may reconsider. But for now, I'm sticking with them.

I certainly understand the frustration with Autodesk's decision on this. If you're a Fusion 360 user and want to take a new tack, that's certainly understandable. But staying the course is also an option worth considering.


NOTE: Autodesk doesn't even know I exist. They don't give me any money, software licenses, etc. Just my humble opinion.
 
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Like I said before, your biggest investment is time. If you know and love the software then continue to use it, if you need features they're charging for then pay up or switch. Seems like a pretty small cost compared with some of the machines we use....

John
 
I agree with some of the other posters above about businesses using the free license. I've known and worked for several small business owners, and some are honest and upstanding and some are scumballs who will rip anyone they get a chance to off. So I somewhat understand the nerfing of the CAM, export and drawing limitations from that standpoint. Cloud space costs money, so I can also understand the limitations on cloud usage. After looking through the limitations, the CAM limitations are something I can live with. The 10 file limit, probably not. I have some models that are made up of separate parts in different files, made from old plans. With those files, there are dozens of files making up the total package. I guess I'll just bite the bullet and pay up. I really like the software and use it often, and I use the CAM a lot as well. They also gave folks a couple of weeks to decide and export their files, way better than Photobucket did. I expect they have an awful lot of folks in the $70-100k range working on this project and someones got to pay for them. The full price of $500 per year is dirt cheap for a business. Kind of steep for a hobby, but then again I spend more than that on shipping for tools, consumables and metal for my hobby, just to put it in perspective.
 
JRaut said:
I'm a long-time Fusion 360 user and have long touted its many, many merits both on H-M.com and elsewhere. Similar to many of you, I was quite dismayed when I heard the news a couple days ago. My knee-jerk reaction was *eff those guys, I'm outta here*.

So I took a few deep breaths, then downloaded and test drove FreeCAD, SolidWorks, and Inventor. I wanted to check out some other fish in the proverbial sea.

I (obviously) won't claim that I became an expert, or anything close, in any of those CAD packages in the past couple days. But I gave'em each a couple hours behind the mouse.

After a few days of contemplation, I've decided to stay with Fusion 360. Let me tell you why:
  1. I'm quite good and quite quick with Fusion 360. Learning a completely new package isn't all that appealing to me right now.
  2. Fusion 360 is, without question, the most intuitive and user friendly of the 3D modeling software packages I've used. It's clean and polished. A pleasure to use.
  3. The folks behind Fusion are constantly updating and improving the software. They seem to me to be the best in the market on many of the features I use. And those areas that need improving? Well they seem to be improving.
  4. I rarely, if ever, use any of the features that they're limiting in the free version:
    1. I've never made a 2D PDF drawing from any of my models. No issues there.
    2. I've never exported a STEP file from Fusion. Import, yes. But I've never exported one. No issues there.
    3. I've never used the simulation feature. No issues there.
    4. I counted up how many files I routinely use. Including a vise, rotary table, and a few projects, I'm at about 8. So I'm approaching the limit of 10, but I'm not there. This may be the most inconvenient of their changes, but not all that big a deal, quite frankly. I look forward to seeing more detail about how they plan on implementing the 'archive' (and 'un-archive') feature.
    5. I don't use the CAM features all that much in Fusion, and when I do, it's only 2-axis stuff. So no 3+2, 4, or 5 axis stuff. Not even close. So no issues there.
    6. There seem to be a few other limitations as well, but none of them affect anything I do in Fusion.
  5. Reading between the lines in their communications, it seems like they were having quite a bit of trouble with folks using the free, personal version for business projects. I get it, those guys/gals should be paying. And seems many of the features they're locking down will greatly help crack down on that (particularly the 10 file limit, the 1 document limit, and the STEP export).
  6. These guys have families that have to eat, too. I'm not feedin' them, so I don't really have room to complain that they're walking back a few features that I rarely/never use.
  7. They claim that there will always be a free version for home users. I'm as skeptical as you. If they keep rolling back more and more features in the coming years I may reconsider. But for now, I'm sticking with them.

I certainly understand the frustration with Autodesk's decision on this. If you're a Fusion 360 user and want to take a new tack, that's certainly understandable. But staying the course is also an option worth considering.


NOTE: Autodesk doesn't even know I exist. They don't give me any money, software licenses, etc. Just my humble opinion.
Click to expand...

You sum things up very well from my standpoint as well. I've been playing with FreeCad, like you, not enough be really learn it, but I do see less polish, less features and some of the very easy things to do in Fusion seem a little daunting in FC.

As far as PDF output goes, you can always use Windows print options to output a PDF file. There are also other programs you can get for free to do the same.

The thing that will either keep me using Fusion or push me to FreeCad is the 1 sheet drawing per project statement. When designing an assembly, one sheet isn't going to cut it. Hopefully, there will be a work around, even if it is to create separate files for each sheet. Then, you could have 9 sheets (including your model this would max out the 10 document limit).

We'll see once things do change and I see what we have. I'd love to stay with Fusion. I've gotten fairly good at it! And it sure is a sweet program!

Ted
 
I just downloaded my files and I will be learning FreeCAD. Such a shame.
Robert
 
There's a TechDraw workbench in FreeCAD that allows you to make a 2D drawing from the 3D model. I use it all the time. From that, you can create a pdf file directly.
 
I'm backed into a corner. I have almost 18 months and 100's of hours learning F360. I CAN"T start over, learning curve is too steep. I have not received the emailed yet BUT I email Eric Visser. (He emails once in a blue moon) and shared my disappointment. I think more of us should do this.
So on there website I see that there is still a "cloud credit" charge for rendering ? I don't know if I've been doing things wrong but I always have to do this when exporting things for 3d printing.
As far as the rapid tool movement, can't we just open the g-code and edit this before running the code? (I only know my Tormach this seems easy to do...can't speak of anything else) Since I'm a cautious novice and do mainly SS, I move slow already, this will double my machining time. I'm sure there are more, but I don't know what I don't know.
 
I am a huge fan of the Fusion software and I have a lot of time into it. I like JRaut's analysis... but a few things concern me. I often download 2D pdf drawings so I can post them here! I am pretty certain that the introductory price of a license is going waaaay up next year. Eventually I will get beyond 10 projects and I will not be able to download the older ones to stay below the limit.
Robert
 
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